28 Facts About Rajen Prasad

Rajen Prasad was born on 1947 and is a New Zealand academic and politician.

Rajen Prasad was a Member of the House of Representatives for the Labour Party from 2008 to 2014.

Rajen Prasad moved to Auckland, New Zealand as a teenager, recalling his arrival date of 21 April 1964 in his parliamentary maiden speech.

New Zealand was not particularly multicultural then, and Rajen Prasad said that he and his family were affected by racism and discrimination, like not being able to find rental accommodation.

Rajen Prasad was taught by the Marist Brothers in Fiji and completed secondary education in New Zealand at Seddon Memorial High School.

Rajen Prasad studied education and anthropology at the University of Auckland and trained as a social worker at Victoria University of Wellington.

Rajen Prasad was a social worker before becoming a Massey University associate professor and director of the social work and social policy programme.

Rajen Prasad led the university's Albany campus during its establishment in 1993.

Rajen Prasad was Race Relations Conciliator between 1996 and 2001.

Rajen Prasad came into the race relations office at a period of heightened tension; his predecessor John Clarke had relocated the office from Auckland to Wellington and a parliamentary select committee found that public perception was Clarke had given priority to Maori complaints over other ethnic groups.

Rajen Prasad's view was that, although he "strongly supported" the Treaty of Waitangi, the Human Rights Act did not tell the race relations office to prioritise Maori; the Maori affairs minister Tau Henare criticised his approach as "undermining" to Maori.

In 2000, Rajen Prasad issued a special report into police racism and historic racism toward Maori in Taranaki, following a shooting.

When his five-year term ended, Rajen Prasad said he was disappointed in the level of government funding and support his office had received.

Rajen Prasad was appointed a member of the Residence Appeal Authority, which made decisions about appeals brought under the Immigration Act.

In June 2004 Rajen Prasad was appointed as the first Chief Commissioner of the newly established Families Commission, serving until 2008.

Rajen Prasad accompanied the prime minister, Helen Clark, on a diplomatic visit to India in 2004.

Rajen Prasad was criticised for approving a confidential payout to the outgoing chief executive of the Families Commission without informing the government, for which he apologised.

Rajen Prasad joined the board of the Bank of Baroda's New Zealand office in 2008 and became the board chair in 2013.

Rajen Prasad remained a director of the Bank until 2016.

Rajen Prasad was a list-only candidate for the Labour Party on two occasions.

At the 2008 election Rajen Prasad was ranked 12, the highest-placed new candidate, and was elected to Parliament.

Rajen Prasad had sought the party's nomination to stand in Te Atatu in 2011, but was unsuccessful.

Rajen Prasad sat on the social services committee throughout his two terms as a member of Parliament.

Rajen Prasad was Labour's spokesperson on the voluntary and community sector, ethnic affairs and immigration and an associate spokesperson on ethnic affairs and social development.

Rajen Prasad was believed to have supported David Cunliffe in the 2011 and 2013 Labour Party leadership contests.

Rajen Prasad was an advocate for ethnic communities and immigrants.

However, Rajen Prasad was seen by media as being ineffectual and unlikely to be appointed to a ministerial office if Labour were to win an election.

In May 2014, Rajen Prasad announced his plans to retire ahead of the general election in September 2014.